In the wake of France becoming the first country in the world to enshrine the “right” to abortion into its constitution, the French Catholic bishops and the Pontifical Academy for Life (PAV) have both responded by reaffirming the right to life for all preborn children and calling on the faithful to respond with fasting and prayer.
On Monday, the French Bishops’ Conference issued its statement in response to the parliamentary action which made the killing of preborn children a constitutional right.
“As Catholics, we must continue to serve life from conception to death, to be artisans of respect for every human being, which is always a gift given to all others, and to support those who choose to keep their child even in difficult circumstances,” the statement said. “Let us humbly and urgently ask for grace. Above all, let us pray that our fellow citizens will rediscover the taste for life, for giving it, for receiving it, for accompanying it, for having and raising children.”
The bishops also noted that they “gladly relay the call made by several Catholic movements to fast and prayer” in response to the measure.
In addition to the Bishops’ Conference, the PAV also expressed regret that no measures were taken to help women who actually want to continue their pregnancies. Based in the Vatican, the PAV is “dedicated to promoting the Church’s consistent life ethic.”
“The particular life situations and difficult and dramatic contexts of our time must be addressed with the tools of a legal civilization that looks first of all to the protection of the weakest and most vulnerable,” it said. “Protection of life, ought to be humanity’s ‘first objective,’ and is something that can only develop in a world voice of conflict and with the fields of science, technology, and industry serving both the human person and brotherhood.”
The PAV also cited a declaration made by Pope Francis during a general audience on March 25, 2020.
“The defense of life is not an ideology; it is a reality, a human reality that involves all Christians, precisely because they are Christian and because they are human,” the Pope said.
